Elizabeth Byers & Jean Rusmore

A Mill Valley resident and native northern Californian, Elizabeth Byers has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of her life. She started hiking in her childhood, exploring the beautiful mountains of Carmel Valley and Big Sur and the majesty of Yosemite with her family. Her love of the outdoors led her to study environmental planning in college and graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. She began working in the land conservation field in the mid ’80s and served for 16 years as a project manager, land trust program director, and writer at The Trust for Public Land (TPL). She later worked as a consultant for many nonprofits and agencies, including The Garden Conservancy, Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, and TPL.

While at TPL, Elizabeth became one of the founding board members of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council in 1988 and stayed connected to the organization over the years. She coauthored the second edition of The Conservation Easement Handbook, published by TPL and the Land Trust Alliance in 2005, and was a photographer and project coordinator for the 2014 Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy publication Alcatraz Gardens: Remembered, Reclaimed, Reimagined.

Elizabeth hiked, biked, and photographed the Ridge Trail to update this guidebook, often with family and friends, and this journey reconfirmed for her the magnificence of the Bay Area landscape. She is also a mom to two children in their twenties and is thrilled that they, too, love getting out on the trails.

On a network of paths that ring San Francisco Bay, the Bay Area Ridge Trail is now a 375-mile route that spans nine counties. It provides easy access to hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding across oak-studded grasslands and through tranquil forests. Bay Area Ridge Trail is the fully updated official guide, endorsed by the Ridge Trail Council. Join author Elizabeth Byers—a founding board member of the council—and discover dramatic coastlines, former Mexican ranchos, old Native American footpaths, vistas that inspired Spanish explorers, and more.

Choose from 75 trail segments in parks and public lands like Marin County’s hilly Mt. Tamalpais State Park and view-packed Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve. Trips range from a 2.5-mile excursion over the Benicia-Martinez Bridge to a 12.5-mile traverse of Bolinas Ridge in the North Bay. Each trip includes summary information, like distance, accessibility, managing agency, regulations, and facilities, as well as an easy-to-read map. Comprehensive trail directions help to ensure that you always know where to go, while details on the region’s history and culture entertain you along the way.

Grab a copy of Bay Area Ridge Trail and start planning your next adventure. The perfect outing is closer than you think.